"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow."
—Helen Keller (American,
1880-1968)
Word for the day
Smorgasbord (n)
A buffet meal of various hot
and cold hors d'oeuvres, salads, casserole dishes, meats, cheeses, etc.
Malice towards none
What is real problem for
those who are opposing GST?
(a) They might have to pay
income tax due on their full income.
(b) Higher GST rates may
impact demand for their product.
(c) GST compliance is very
expensive.
First random thought this morning
To promote cashless payments,
the government should introduce a card that can be charged maximum of Rs2500 per
day. The card could be a debit card, credit card or prepaid card. The PoS for
this card should work on show card basis (no swipe, no PIN). For fixed charges
like Toll, Parking Fee, Entrance Fee, Platform Ticket, Filing Fee etc., PoS
could be pre-programmed so that on showing the card it charges the fixed amount
to the card. For variable charges, the PoS operator may be required to punch in
the amount to be charged. Toll booth may work on Red/Green light basis rather
than barrier basis which is energy intensive and causes delays at Toll Booths.
This can make the transactions
really fast and hassle free. A low per day limit, will minimize the chances of
misuse of card through theft etc.
Give them a dignified life; and death
As I highlighted in one of my earlier post (see here) the notion of "farm loan" is materially
different from "farmers' debt" in today's context.
The rise in aspirational
consumption; distortion of social customs (especially marriage, death, birth)
for the sake of vanity, ignorance, and misguidance; rise in crime and
litigation expenses; rise in cases of chronic diseases and hence prohibitive
healthcare expenses form an overwhelming part of "farmers' debt".
This debt usually has nothing to do with farming activity.
This is in fact may true for a
large majority of urban poor and lower middle class people also.
To solve this conundrum, it is
important that economic reforms are implemented with social reforms.
The social initiatives like focus
on cleanliness, cooking gas connection to BPL families are commendable. But
what we need is a social renaissance. Small correction and incremental
improvement might not be enough given the serious nature of the problem, in my
view.
I am not a social scientist. I may
therefore not be an appropriate person to suggest the steps that could be taken
within the Indian sociological framework. But this does leaves me at freedom to
throw some thoughts that may not belong to the box. For example, consider the
following:
(a) The government should take strong affirmative steps to eradicate
social distortions that have crept in over a period time in our social,
religious and cultural events.
To begin with the government
should totally nationalize the religious part of the birth, death and marriage
ceremonies.
The government should appoint
qualified religious persons (QRP) who can perform these ceremonies at the
designated venues established by government in every Block of the country . All
the expenses like salary of QRP, cost of performing the rituals, food offered
to QRP, cost of feeding upto 25 close relatives of the person performing for
whom the rituals being done, etc. should be borne by the government.
The designated officer at Block
level may be appointed to supervise all such ceremonies and issue certificate
(Birth, Death, Marriage) on the spot.
The government should actively
discourage profligate spending on the social part of these events.
All expenses on marriage &
birth related parties and social functions relating to death, shall be taxed
@100%. Meaning, if anyone wanting to spend Rs10,00,000 on marriage party of
his/her child, shall be required to pay an equivalent amount as tax. This money
may be used exclusively for performing the religious ceremonies stated above.
(b) A dignified birth and death shall be made fundamental right of
every citizen.
In case of birth, the government
should assume responsibility of the child from the conception stage, for upto
two children for each parent. This includes good diet for mother, medical
tests, medicine, delivery expenses and immunization of the child. This should
be done on a global standard basis not the way typical government medical facility
is run by the government.
In case of death, the final rights
of the deceased should be performed in a dignified manner, as per his/her
religious traditions.
This should apply to all unclaimed
and unidentified bodies also.
The insurance companies may be
directed to make the claim payments on the spot when the final rituals are done
on 13th, 17th or 40th day as the case may be, in cases where the deceased's
life was insured, either individually or under some government group scheme.
The corporates may be required to
fund this initiative under their CSR obligation.
(c) A separate assembly of religious leaders, holy men for each
religion may formed. This assembly may be given the task to reevaluate all holy
scripture, and find if there is any need to reinterpreted the scriptures in the
light of modern day circumstances and realities. The religious leaders should
be requested to weed out the redundancies and misinterpretations, so that no
one manipulate the religious sentiments of the people in the name of scriptures
and divine mandate.
The assembly should also frame a
code of conduct for all people responsible for helping people with their
religious ceremonies and duties.
For example, the Hindu assembly
may want to ban flowing the last remains of dead people in holy rivers to save
them from dying. The ashes may be used for making bricks that can be used to
build places of worships and houses for the poor.
It may also encourage people to
use electronic or gas based cremation, instead of wood pyres. Alternatively,
each family member of the deceased may be required to plant two trees each and
take care of it till it grows to become self-sufficient.
(d) Distinguish between "education" and
"learning". Nationalize and standardize all education. Learning may
be imparted by private citizens volunteering in nation building. (Will write in
detail on this in a later post)
These steps if taken, may make the
life of poor (both rural and urban) materially comfortable and substantially
increase the happiness quotient of the country.
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